Seven Irish authors have made the (very) longlist of 71 books nominated by libraries in 34 countries for the 2025 Dublin Literary Award, the world’s most valuable annual prize for a single work of fiction published in English, worth €100,000 to the winner. Now in its 30th year, it is sponsored by Dublin City Council.
Long Island by Colm Tóibín, the bestselling sequel to his most successful novel to date, Brooklyn, is one of 12 titles to have received two nominations, in its case by Bibliotheca Alexandrina and Libraries NI (Northern Ireland). Tóibín won the award in 2006 for The Master.
James by Percival Everett, winner of the 2024 National Book Award for Fiction, is the most famous of the others, which include Audition by Pip Adam, The Details by Ia Genberg, Fishing for the Little Pike (Summer Fishing in Lapland) by Juhani Karila, The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil by Shubnum Khan, Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko, North Woods by Daniel Mason, In Elvis’s Room by Sebastijan Pregelj, Star 111 by Lutz Seiler, The Incredible Dreams of Garba Dakaskus by Umar Abubakar Sidi, and Blackouts by Justin Torres.
[ Irish author Colin Barrett’s Wild Houses wins Nero debut fiction prizeOpens in new window ]
The longlist contains 16 debut novels and 26 books translated into English from Korean, Farsi, Icelandic, Slovenian, Croatian, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. If the winning book has been translated, the author receives €75,000 and the translator €25,000. Two translators, Michele Hutchison and Susan Ouriou, have been nominated for translating two titles.
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The other Irish authors to make the longlist include Paul Lynch, nominated by Jamaica Library Service for his 2023 Booker Prize winner Prophet Song, and Colin Barrett, nominated by Limerick City and County Libraries for Wild Houses, which this week won the Nero prize for Debut Fiction. Also in contention are Water by John Boyne, nominated by Waterford City and Council Libraries; Hagstone by Sinéad Gleeson, nominated by Galway Public Libraries; Seaborne by Nuala O’Connor, nominated by Openbare Bibliotheek Brugge (Bruges Public Library); and Christ on a Bike by Orla Owen, nominated by Norfolk Library and Information Service.
The shortlist will be announced on March 25th and the winner will be announced by Emma Blain, the Lord Mayor of Dublin and patron of the award, on May 22nd, as part of the International Literature Festival Dublin, which is also funded by Dublin City Council.
Speaking at the launch of the longlist, Ms Blain said: “For over 30 years The Dublin Literary Award has connected readers through the best of fiction from around the world. I am delighted to see that this year’s longlist continues to reflect the breadth of imagination we associate with the award, showcasing cultures, traditions and unique perspectives.”
The international panel of judges features Gerbrand Bakker, Dutch author and winner of the Dublin Literary Award in 2010; Martina Devlin, award-winning Irish author and newspaper columnist; Fiona Sze-Lorrain, writer, poet, translator, musician and editor based in Paris; Leonard Cassuto, professor of American literature at Fordham University; and Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe, a poet and editor based in Dublin. The non-voting chairperson is Prof Chris Morash, the Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing at Trinity College Dublin.
In order to be eligible for consideration for the 2025 award, a novel must have been first published in English between July 2023 and June 2024 and, if a translation, first published in a language other than English between July 2014 and June 2024.
Previous winners
- 2024: Solenoid, by Mircea Cărtărescu (Romanian), translated by Sean Cotter
- 2023: Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp (German), translated by Jo Heinrich
- 2022: The Art of Losing by Alice Zeniter (French), translated by Frank Wynne
- 2021: Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli (Mexican)
- 2020: Milkman by Anna Burns (Irish)
- 2019: Idaho by Emily Ruskovich (American)
- 2018: Solar Bones by Mike McCormack (Irish)
- 2017: A General Theory of Oblivion by José Eduardo Agualusa (Angolan), translated by Daniel Hahn
- 2016: Family Life by Akhil Sharma (American)
- 2015: Harvest by Jim Crace (British)
- 2014: The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Colombian), translated by Anne McLean
- 2013: City of Bohane by Kevin Barry (Irish)
- 2012: Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor (British)
- 2011: Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (Irish)
- 2010: The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker (Dutch), translated by David Colmer
- 2009: Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas (American)
- 2008: De Niro’s Game by Rawi Hage (Lebanese / Canadian)
- 2007: Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (Norwegian), translated by Anne Born
- 2006: The Master by Colm Tóibín (Irish)
- 2005: The Known World by Edward P Jones (American)
- 2004: This Blinding Absence of Light by Tahar Ben Jelloun (Moroccan) translated by Linda Coverdale
- 2003: My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk (Turkish) translated by Erdag M. Göknar
- 2002: Atomised by Michel Houellebecq (French), translated by Frank Wynne
- 2001: No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod (Canadian)
- 2000: Wide Open by Nicola Barker (English)
- 1999: Ingenious Pain by Andrew Miller (English)
- 1998: The Land of Green Plums by Herta Müller (Romanian), translated from German by Michael Hofmann
- 1997: A Heart So White by Javier Marías (Spanish), translated by Margaret Jull Costa
- 1996: Remembering Babylon by David Malouf (Australian)
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